


Night Sky with Exit Wounds

by alphvjensen



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Blood and Violence, Carnival, Dark Carnival, First Kiss, M/M, Merperson Dean, Merperson Sam, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 23:38:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11390805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphvjensen/pseuds/alphvjensen
Summary: There was a sign that read about an amazing wonder just a couple miles from the main road. The further down the road, there was another sign that advertised a creature that was both beauty and danger. A creature that was the main character of legends. The character that lead sailors to their deaths and it was there, hidden deep within the swamps of Louisiana.There was a picture painted underneath the words. A creature with a tail, pale, white scales lining the body of it and the further up the body, the picture continued to fade up to the point where the face was hardly there. Years of thunderstorms and rain and heat and humidity washed the face away, wore it down until nothing stared back.





	Night Sky with Exit Wounds

The air smelled heavy of sweat and dirt and mud and it felt thick. It felt like the night sky was weighed down, threatening to touch the ground. Despite the fact that no one was talking, his head was buzzing, something ringing inside of his ears. The sound of cicadas filled the air. Frogs and toads croaked somewhere off in the distance. He wasn’t looking at anything other than the ground that he was standing on.

It had recently rained and the air was saturated with water and somewhere thunder rumbled, threatening to rip the sky back open and for it to rain again, waiting to drown everyone who was there.

The road was almost too far away from him and he wanted to turn back around, get back to the safety of his car, protect himself from the rain. But still, he followed the small crowd towards the red and white tent that had long grown dull and faded after spending so much time in the swamp. A single string of Edison light bulbs hung around the tent, providing the only light from the fading sun, offering a sense of false salvation.

There was a sign that read about an amazing wonder just a couple miles from the main road. The further down the road, there was another sign that advertised a creature that was both beauty and danger. A creature that was the main character of legends. The character that lead sailors to their deaths and it was there, hidden deep within the swamps of Louisiana.

There was a picture painted underneath the words. A creature with a tail, pale, white scales lining the body of it and the further up the body, the picture continued to fade up to the point where the face was hardly there. Years of thunderstorms and rain and heat and humidity washed the face away, wore it down until nothing stared back.

Everyone filed into line as they walked inside the tent, choosing to fill the seats from the back to front.

Sam swallowed thickly as he took one of the remaining seats in the front row. He stared at the object that was placed on the raised platform with a black cloth covering it. The longer he watched, the more that he saw that whatever was underneath it was moving. Goosebumps started to rise on Sam’s skin.

The billboard said that there was a mermaid, alive and in the flesh and while Sam never really believed in such stories, here he was, sitting in the front row, staring at a cloth covered object in the middle of a swamp with his stomach tied up in knots.

Quiet murmurs filled the tent the longer that they sat there and nothing happened. Sam checked his watch, the second hand ticking on by. The sign said that there was a show every day at seven and it was minutes until the top of the hour. The dim light that did very little to keep the tent lit flickered above head.

The thing under the cloth moved again and then someone came up onto the stage, standing behind the object. Immediately Sam distrusted the man, all his senses filled with unease. The man was wearing a black suit that looked as faded and old as the tent itself. He was wearing this top hat that should have made him look ridiculous but instead it made him look more sinister. His face was unshaven and there was dirt underneath his fingernails and as the guy scanned the crowd, he looked at Sam a second too long, the corner of his lips pulled up into this sickening smirk.

There wasn’t a sound to be heard.

“Welcome-” The guy exclaimed, his arms thrown wide, voice booming around the tent. “To my humble side show.” He paused and there was scattered applause. Sam just sat there, watching. “My name is Crowley and I will be your host for the evening. Before we start though, I am going to pass around my hat and ask for a humble donation. My pet and I can’t live off of oxygen alone and we need to have food… so if you could be so kind.”

The guy, Crowley, still had that smile on his face, that same one that Sam didn’t trust but regardless Sam pulled out his wallet and dropped a couple of bucks into the hat when it got around to him.

Crowley watched the hat go around the small tent, a hungry look of greed on his face and when the guy from the back walked to the front to give it back to Crowley, he snatched the hat back, stuffing the bills deep within his pockets before placing the hat back on his head.

Then he retook his position behind the black cloth. Sam’s leg started to bounce up and down, anxious nerves coursing through his body.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting. In all reality, he was probably expecting this to be some kind of practical joke. That seemed to be the most rational thing to expect because mermaids weren’t real. There were no such things. All the stories and legends and such, they were made up by drunk sailors to explain the apparitions made by the fog and mist.

“If you have a weak stomach, or young children, I highly advise you to turn away now. Shield your eyes, for what you are about to see is not for the faint of heart.” Crowley warned, his voice waxing with danger. “This creature that is about to be shown is the creature that nightmares are made of. Cruel and bloodthirsty and won’t think twice about ripping your heart out with its fingernails.

A pause and Crowley surveyed the crowd, looking at each and every face, the creeping fear that was growing with each passing second. Crowley seemed to revel in it.

“I stumbled upon it on night. It was creeping along the swampy bottoms, stalking me. It grabbed me with fire in his eyes and I knew that it was going to kill me.” A dry, humorless chuckle erupted from him. “But it was no match for me and now it is my pet who sings for its food.”

The tent grew thick with anticipation. Candles burned along the perimeter of the tent, coating the air in a thick smoke. Sam kept his eyes on the cloth covered creature.

He couldn’t swallow. It felt like his tongue was thick and swollen in his mouth.

“So, without further ado, the creature that haunts the night.   
And with that, Crowley grabbed the cloth and yanked it up.

All the creatures of horror and nightmares that Sam’s mind came up with was nothing like the creature… the thing that was up on display in front of everything like some kind of animal. Except what Sam saw wasn’t an animal. It… the creature… he wasn’t even something that nightmares were made of. He was just…

There was a porcelain tub which he was placed in. His tail nearly hanging over the edge. His skin was covered in filth and grime. His arms rested along the sides of the tub and his nails had what looked to be blood coated underneath them. His face, his mouth was covered in blood and when Crowley got close to him, he snarled at him. Mouth pulled back to expose his teeth and he snapped at Crowley.

Gasps erupted around the tent as everyone leaned forward to get a better look at the thing that was in the tub. Sam felt sick to his stomach.

Then Crowley reached down behind the tub and the creature tracked the movements, a predator tracking its prey, licking his lips with hunger.

Crowley came back up with a rabbit in his hands, holding it up by its hind legs as the rabbit wiggled and struggled to get away. Even before Crowley said anything, Sam had a sickening feeling in his stomach that he knew what the rabbit was going to be used for.

“I know that some of you out there don’t believe that this thing is made of nightmares but what I am going to show you is only going to prove that it is. If you have a weak stomach, now would be the time to look away. “Crowley warned and yet no one moved. “Don’t be fooled by the tail and pretty scales because this creature  _ is _ a monster. It feeds on the flesh of men and if it wasn’t in this tub, then it would each and everyone of you.” Crowley smirked. “But now, it gets what I give it, only when I decide to feed it.”

Crowley dangled the rabbit of the creature's head and the creature slowly rose up out of the tub, neck stretched out, trying to get closer to the food and Sam could practically feel his hunger.

Crowley teased the creature, keeping the squirming rabbit just out of his reach and the creature would try to rise up further, just a little bit and Crowley would pull the rabbit even further out of the creature’s reach and then he would drop back down in the tub, water splashing around him. The creature looked starved. Sam could see where there was once muscle on his arms but now there was nothing but bone. His stomach, his chest were all concave and Sam could count each and every rib. See where the bone stuck out from the body, pushing through the skin.

No one around Sam seemed concerned about that, about the state that the poor creature was in, the way that he was being kept, locked and confined in a tub that was too small for him. Instead they were cowering next to each other, staring in absolute disgusted horror as they waited to see if the creature was actually going to eat that rabbit alive, prove that he was the monster that Crowley was trying to make him out to be.

Sam wanted to do something, needed to do something. He wanted to prove that this creature wasn’t a monster. He was an animal that was starved and kept prisoner and that it was Crowley who was the real monster with his sly smile and money slick hands.

Crowley barely moved, barely made a sound but there was a slight twitch to his lips and all of the sudden the creature lunged up out of the water and ripped the rabbit out of Crowley’s hands.

The rabbit cried out a pitiful squeal as the creature bit into ins neck, ripping out the muscle and tendons in its throat. The crowd around Sam screamed, covering their eyes as the grotesque sound of flesh being torn apart by teeth and the dying sound of the rabbit filled the tent.

Crowley stood in the background, watching as people fled from the tent, their minds filled with nightmares that they once thought only lived in fairytales.

Sam stayed right where he was, watching the spectacle that was the creature and then Crowley behind him.

When the rabbit was nothing more than a mass of fur and bone and the creature had blood dripping from his mouth, he dropped its finished off meal to the ground.

Then he looked up and out towards the few remaining people that stayed behind, horror still painted so blatantly on their face. The creature looked at each empty seat and looked at the remaining crowd and for a split second, he looked ashamed. Ashamed of what he was and what he did and the way that his primal instincts took over, turning him into the bloodthirsty monster instead of a captured animal that was forced to do this. He dropped his gaze down to the dirty water that he was sitting in, the corners of his mouth downturned and a frown settled on that beautiful, blood stained face of his.

Crowley then thanked the remaining guest for seeing his freak and he disappeared behind a dark curtain, the material falling thickly behind him almost as solid as a wall.

The creature was absentmindedly drawing patterns in the water with his finger, the water rippling outward to the edge of the tub.

Sam became the last on in the tent rather quickly. Taking one last glance towards the way that Crowley left, he rose to his feet. Before he could walk towards the creature, it spoke to him, freezing Sam to the spot.

“So you’ve decided to stay a little long to make fun of the monster?” Years of shame and resentment seemed to line his voice.

Sam shook his head, his hair falling in his face as he tried to disprove what the creature said. “No… no, that’s not the reason why I stayed. I…”

“You what? You feel sorry for me?” The creature’s voice was cold.

“I…”

“Ah… I see that the young mind can’t quite believe what he’s seeing so he has to take a closer look.” Crowley’s voice made Sam jump as he looked up towards the curtain of which Crowley was now standing in front of.

“Umm… I…”

“There’s no need to be ashamed-” Crowley paused, waiting for Sam to say his name and Sam did. “There’s no need to be ashamed, Samuel. It is only natural for human nature to investigate the things that we can’t explain.” Crowley walked towards the tub, running a hand through the creature’s hand before closing his fingers into a fist and yanking it’s head up. “Come… take a closer look.”

Sam looked down at the creature, the way that it was stretching up toward Crowley to release the strain on his hair and then up towards Crowley before stepping up closer.

“Wanna see its teeth?” Crowley asked and he took Sam’s non-answer as he answer. With his other hand, Crowley reached out and grabbed the creature by the jaw, his fingers digging in hard enough to make crescent shaped bruises appear in his flesh. “Come on, pet, show him your teeth.”

The creature stared up at Crowley in defiance and Crowley pressed into his jaw harder to the point that the creature opened his mouth out of necessity to relieve the pressure.

Each tooth was pointed, sharp enough that Sam didn’t have any doubt that they could rip apart a human limb by limb. Meat and fur from his last meal stuck in between his teeth and Sam tore his gaze away, looking back up at Crowley.

“Will you… will you let go of him… like that?” Sam asked.

Crowley laughed. “You feel sympathy for this monster, don’t you? You shouldn’t, Samuel. You saw the way that it tore into that rabbit and given the chance, it would do the same to you.” But regardless, Crowley let go of the creature and he slumped back down into the tub. He looked down into the water, fingers fumbling with something right underneath the surface. “This is not an animal that deserves mercy. It deserves to be chained up and kept under lock and key like a monster because it is. Don’t you see that?”

Sam didn’t. He didn’t see the way that anyone could see this creature a monster. Sam watched the creature’s fingers shift under the water, still messing with something and it took a moment for Sam to place what he was seeing. A chain was wrapped around the creature’s waist, keeping him bound in the tub.

“No.” Sam said truthfully. “I don’t. I don’t see that.”

All of the sudden Crowley lunged forward, grabbing Sam by the arm and pushed up his sleeve. In the same breath, Crowley reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. Sam’s eyes widened, trying to pull back from Crowley but Crowley’s grip what like iron.

“You saw the way that it tore into that rabbit without hesitation. If it wasn’t chained up, it would do the same to you. Give it the taste of human blood-” 

Crowley placed the blade on Sam’s forearm and cut through the skin, placing his arm over the creature’s mouth, waiting for the blood to well up and drip into his mouth. It didn’t take long, the blood falling on the creature’s face and the creature snarled, closing his eyes shut. Another drop fell and then another and the creature was shaking. He was trying so desperately not to react but then a drop fell on his tongue and the creature broke, lunging up out of the water, trying to get a bite out of Sam’s arm which Sam yanked back immediately. He clapped a hand over the cut that Crowley caused.

“Give it the taste of human blood and it can’t control itself.” Crowley said cooly. “It is in your best interest that it is chained up like this. In fact, if I was able to find every last one of these creatures, I would chain them all up because that’s what they all deserve. Now, if you'll excuse me, Samuel, the show is over and I think that it’s time for you to go home.”

Sam held Crowley’s stare, wanting to say more, wanting to convince the vile person to let the poor creature go. Instead he nodded once, taking one last glance toward the creature in the tub before turning in leaving, mind already working on how he was going to get it free.

It was dark outside and the only light that could be made out was the light from the tent and Sam followed the mud path back to where he parked his car. There was no one left.

It was close to eight and Sam climbed into his car, settling in behind the wheel with a heavy sigh. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do or even how. All he knew was that he was going to save that creature.

His dad had given him a hunting knife that he kept in the door of his car and Sam pulled it out. It wasn’t much but it was the only weapon that he had.

He waited until midnight. He waited four, long, mind numbing hours before stepping out of the car, knife in hand back towards the tent. He doubted every step he took towards the creature and the monster that was holding him.

The lights that were strung up around the tent were turned off and the moon did very little to break through the thick foliage and light up the swamp.

The creature was still in the tub on the raised platform, his head bent forward, chin resting on his chest like he was asleep. However the moment that Sam walked into the tent, the creature raised his head, a smirk on his face.

“Looks like my knight in shining armor came back to rescue me from my tower.” The creature said, watching as Sam inched further into the tent. “So… what’s your plan, Sammy? How are you going to get me out of this?” The creature was teasing him, acting as if he didn’t believe that Sam could actually save him.

“I don’t… I’m not sure.” Sam whispered, inching even closer. He glanced toward the curtain, watching for movement. There was nothing.

“Well, I’m glad that you came in here prepared.”

Sam stared at the creature in disbelief. He wasn’t sure where this sarcasm was coming from or why the creature was acting like he was. Sam was doing everything that he could do and yet the creature was acting as if… Sam wasn’t sure. “Listen, I’m doing everything I can, okay? I know that it’s not a lot but it would be nice if you just believed in me, had faith that I can save you.”

“Save? You’re not the first one who’s tried to save me, Sammy.”

“Can you not call me that?” Sam snapped.

But the creature only smirked. “There’s been others before you. Others who have come in here more prepared than you and well… as you can see, I’m still here. So tell me, Sammy, what makes you any different?”

Sam shrugged. “Probably nothing.”

“That’s comforting.” The creature said as he settled back down into the tub and sighed heavily.

For just a second, Sam saw through that cocky facade that the creature projected upon himself and he could see the hope in his eyes, the barest glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, Sam would be the one to free him. Then just as quickly as Sam saw it, it was gone, replaced with a nonchalance that Sam wanted to slap off his face.

Sam walked up to the tub, staring down into the dirty water and at the chain that was wrapped around the creature’s waist. He wished that he had a pair of bolt cutters because if he did then it was be a quick cut and then the creature would be free. Only he didn’t have that.

Sam reached down into the water, eyes on the creature, fear creeping along his spine at how dangerous he knew this was. The creature could very easily grab him and kill him if he wanted and Sam hoped that he didn’t.

The chain was heavy and Sam was able to just barely pull it out of the water.

He flinched when he felt wet fingers wrap around his arm and when Sam looked up at the creature, he saw the way that he was looked at the cut on his arm, a frown pulling at his lips.

“I’m sorry that… you know… he did this to you.” The creature’s voice was low and there wasn’t an ounce of sarcasm to be heard. “Crowley thinks… he uh… he uses me to run people like you away. Turn their kindness into fear to ensure that they don’t come back to help me.” The creature turned his head and looked up at Sam.

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else when all of the sudden he pushed Sam out of the way, moving him around the tub and the creature sat up as far as the chain would allow him. The creature bared his teeth, a growl coming from deep within his throat.

“Thought I told you the show was over, Samuel.” Crowley said calmly as he walked towards the two.

Sam was about to answer when the creature spoke up over him, cutting Sam off. “Leave him alone, Crowley. Don’t you dare hurt him.”

Crowley chuckled. “Well, would you imagine that. The monster cares for something other than himself.” Crowley sounded amused as he walked up toward the tub, his eyes still on Sam and Sam wanted to back down but he wouldn’t allow himself. The creature tried to sit up even higher, make himself seem taller, more intimidating than he actually was. “But guess what, pet, when given the choice of your life verses his, he’s not going to save you.”

Crowley pulled out a gun and pointed it toward Sam. Sam immediately raised his hands in self defense, his heart leaping to his throat. Then Crowley pulled out the knife he had cut Sam with and placed it against the creature’s neck.

“I’ll give you a choice, Samuel. If you really want to free this monster, give me your life in place of his.” Crowley stated. “If you die, I’ll let it go or… I can let you go instead and well… I’ll can kill this monster. I’m tired of living in this fucking swamp anyway and it’s not like I can just travel with a mermaid.”

Sam’s mind was racing. “You want me to…”

“Just go ahead and kill me, Crowley.” The creature said. “He’s got nothing to do with this and you know it.”

Crowley shook his head. “No. It’s not up to you to decide. Samuel here wanted to be a hero and now I’m letting him become a hero. The way that I see it, anything worth saving is something worth dying for.”

The creature stared at Crowley, his teeth bared and he tried to lift up out of the tub. Then the creature turned towards Sam, watching the way that he was shaking, trying to make a decision between his own life and the life of something he didn’t even know existed until four hours ago. It should have been an easy decision. The life of a human held more value than the life of some animal, or some monster.

Then, without preamble, the creature reached out towards the hand that was holding the gun and yanked it away from Sam’s body. The gun went off once before the creature pulled the gun from Crowley’s hands and throwing it towards Sam before Crowley really had a chance to realize what was happening.

After that second of shock, Crowley looked down at the creature, anger written clear across his face as he drove the knife through the creature’s chest.

The creature screamed out in pain at the same time he grabbed the lapels of Crowley’s jacket and pulled him down to his level. Crowley barely had anytime to fight back before the creature sank his teeth into the side of Crowley’s neck, ripping skin from skin.

Crowley screamed, hands braced along the side of the tub as he tried to push himself away from the creature but his hold was too strong. The creature swallowed the bite before taking another one.

Sam stood there horrified as he watched the creature tear into Crowley. Watched and listened to the way that Crowley screamed out and begged for the creature to stop, to let him go but the creature didn’t stop. Sam felt like he was going to throw up listening to the way it sounded for someone to dig into the skin of man and rip it away with nothing but teeth.

The screams died down and was replaced with the sounds of gurgling as Crowley struggled to get the last few breaths of air in his lungs before he died.

Then Crowley stopped moving completely and the creature didn’t stop eating his flesh, filling his stomach full of the meat of the thing that kept him trapped and bound for so many years.

Sam jumped when the creature pushed Crowley’s dead body to the side, a key in his hand as he unlocked the chain that was around his waist and then pushed himself up out of the tub, grunting in pain. The knife that Crowley had stabbed him with was still stuck in his chest, blood pouring down his chest, turning the dirty water even dirtier.

For a moment, Sam thought that the creature was going to climb up out of the tub and go after Sam, attack him as getting a taste of human flesh but instead he fell out of the tub, landing on the ground with a weak grunt and closed his hands around the hilt of the knife, yanking it out.

Blood was coating the creature’s body and he looked over at Sam, shame all over his face. “I’m sorry…” He groaned as he tried to sit up. “I’m sorry that you had to see that. I… if you… you can leave.”

Despite himself, Sam found himself shaking his head. “You’re hurt.” Sam said dumbly.

“Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I didn’t… I didn’t know.” The creature continued to back away from the tub and Sam walked towards him.

Sam crouched down over the creature, his fingers hovering over the wound and Sam wasn’t sure what to do.

“I need water.” The creature said, looking out past the tent and towards the open air of the swamp. Sam looked at him questioningly. “Trust me, Sam. I need water… I…” He coughed, spitting out blood that was his own. “I just need fresh water.”

Sam nodded and looked around the tent for anything that could be used to carry water and there was a bowl on the ground. Sam climbed to his feet, snatching the bowl from the ground and rushed outside to fill it with water.

In the seconds that Sam was gone, the creature seemed to have gone from bad to worse. His skin was pale, scales looking as if they were browning and dying right off his body. He reached out for the bowl the moment that Sam was within reach and Sam handed it to him willingly.

Sam watched as the creature poured the water down his chest, directly over the cut. Almost as soon as the water touched his skin, the creature closed his eyes, teeth gritted in pain before he let out a sigh. Sam watched his face for a moment before looking back down at the cut. He wasn’t sure why, after seeing that mermaids were real, that things still surprised him like they did but still Sam was shocked to see the skin pulling back together, healing as more water washed over him.

“It heals me.” The creature explained. “The water, it can heal nearly anything.” He grit his teeth again for a moment in pain. “Even a stab wound to the heart.”

When the bowl was empty, Sam took it from the creature without question and went to go fill it back up with water. However, when Sam returned back inside the tent, the creature was no longer a creature. Instead he was sitting on one of the benches with a rag in his hand, wiping the blood from his face. And instead of a tail, there were two legs and feet and an actual torso and Sam almost had to do a double take.

“I was human before I became part fish.” The creature… human… thing spoke out, not turning in his seat. “I can change my form when I want and well…” He shrugged. “I wanted to stretch my legs.”

Sam walked back to the creature, hands trembling as he carried the bowl of water.

“Do you… have a name?” Sam asked as he set the bowl down next to the creature and the creature looked at him, a smile on his face.

“Of course I do.” He said. “My name is Dean.”

Sam nodded once and tried to keep his gaze on Dean’s face and nowhere lower because Dean was completely bare, not a stitch of clothing on him. Sam grabbed the rag from Dean’s hands and dipped it in the water and washed the blood from his chest. Dean sat there, completely pliant as he allowed Sam to work.

“You know, I still can’t figure out why you decided to save me, risk your life like that for me.” Dean said, his head tilted to the side just the barest bit.

Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. I just… it wasn’t right for you to be held like that and I…”

“You saved me out of pity.”

“No!” Sam said, dipping the rag back into the water and started washing the blood from Dean’s face. “That’s not… I can’t explain it, it’s just… he said that you were a monster and I didn’t… I didn’t see you like that. You weren’t a monster.”

“You still believe that even after I ripped the throat out of that man?”

“Yes. I still believe that you aren’t a monster even after I watched you rip out the throat of a real monster.”

Dean chuckled, reaching out and placing his hand on Sam’s cheek, halting Sam’s movements. “Samuel, I know that you refuse to believe it but I  _ am _ a monster. There was once a time that I wouldn’t think twice about killing you.” Still Dean had his hand on Sam’s face and Sam didn’t move away. “In fact, I can hear your heart beating inside your chest, so damn steady even after all you’ve seen and there’s that thought in the back of my mind to eat you too.”

Sam swallowed thickly and his heart that Dean said was “so damn steady” started to beat faster.

“He didn’t feed me. For days at a time, he wouldn’t feed me. That rabbit that I had was the first meal that I’ve had in nearly a week and I’m starving and Sammy…” Dean took a deep breath, smelling the air around him. “You smell so good. Strong and young and healthy and it would be so easy to just rip your throat out. But… I won’t.” Dean pulled back his hand.

Sam started to clean Dean’s skin again, washing away the blood and dirt and grime that coated him. He was gentle when he started cleaning Dean’s face. The rag washed away everything that was there, exposing the freckles that dusted his skin and not for the first time, Sam realized just how beautiful of a creature Dean was.

“You said that you were human before you turned into a mermaid.” Sam moved the bowl to the ground and took its place. “What… turned you?”

“It was another mermaid. I was a kid when it happened. I ran away from home, got lost, got hurt and was all alone here in the swamp and I thought that I was going to die. Only the mermaid found me, she wasn’t as pretty as the movies make them out to be but still, she offered me a way to keep living and I took it. She bit me, mixed my blood with hers and then she left me to suffer the transformation.”

“That sounds… awful.” Sam said with a cough, one that shook his entire body and left his chest in an unbearable amount of pain.

Dean turned towards Sam, brow furrowed as he watched Sam cough, listening to the sound of his heart and he didn’t like the way that it sounded like there was a catch every other beat, like something was lodged in his chest causing Sam’s heart to catch like that. When Sam stopped coughing, pulling his hand away from his mouth, it was covered in blood and Dean was on him the second after that.

He pulled at the buttons of Sam’s shirt, pulling it away from his skin and he cursed silently under his breath.

“Fuck.” He muttered as he ran his fingers along the outside of the bullet wound that ripped through Sam’s chest.

Sam stared down at it in shock and disbelief. “How’d I… I did I not know that I got shot?”

“Adrenaline.” Dean answered simply, moving to stand up and push Sam down on the bench to where he was laying down. “It’ll mask the pain of a lot of things, won’t make you feel things until you settle down and your heart stops pumping so hard.”

Dean pressed at it and an involuntary yelp erupted from Sam’s lips. It was like the sudden discovery of the bullet wound made all the pain rush through his body tenfold and Sam grabbed Dean’s arm, his fingers digging into the bone as he tried not to scream out in pain. Dean looked at it, grabbing the rag to wash away the blood and he frowned.

“What… what’s wrong?” Sam grunted out.

“Uhh... “ He sighed. “Umm… it’s uh…”

“Just spit it out. Please.”

“It’s not looking too good. Um… I think that it nicked your lungs, maybe your heart. I’m not too sure but I can hear a tick in your heartbeat and that’s not good and uhh…” He licked his lips. “You’re bleeding out internally.”

“Internally?” Sam repeated, his voice an octave higher.

Dean just nodded. “The shot wasn’t a through and through which means that the bullet is still inside of you but I don’t think… I don’t think that I can take it out.”

Sam sorted out everything that Dean was saying in his head. The bullet probably nicked some vital organs, he was bleeding out from the inside and Dean wasn’t able to take it out which meant that it was still stuck inside of his body and that meant… that meant… “How long do you think I have?”

“Tell a man that he’s bleeding out and he immediately thinks that he’s dying.” Dean joked, trying to keep the mood light but the smile that he tried to plaster on his lips looked fake and Sam saw right through it. “A day, at the most. That’s if you’re lucky but Sam… I can hear your heart and it’s not sounding so good.”

The realization sunk in and Sam closed his eyes. “So this is the way that I’m going to die, huh? Discover that mermaids are real and in the process of trying to free it, I get shot before I can even tell anyone or get a proper thank you for saving your ass.”

Sam expected some kind of laugh out of Dean but when Sam opened his eyes, he saw that Dean was still frowning. “There’s a hospital several hours away from here. You could probably make it but… I’m not sure if your heart will hold out.” He trailed off. “But… you know… there is… there’s probably another way.” Dean muttered, not quite looking Sam in the eye.

“Another…” Sam trailed off, as he realized what Dean was insinuating. “You mean, the same way that you survived? Turn into a… a mermaid?” Sam started coughing again, more blood coming up.

Dean looked away, eyes cast downward like he was ashamed in even bring the idea up.

“If you change me, you’re not gonna… you’re not gonna leave me alone like the one that changed you did to you, are you?” Sam asked, not even sure why he was asking in the first place. The whole thing was crazy, getting turned into a mermaid but then again, getting shot was crazy and getting told that you were going to bleed out was crazy. So this, accepting to get turned into a mermaid, that didn’t seem crazy in the grand scheme of things.

Dean snapped his attention back up to Sam, eyes wide.

“I’ll stay with you up until the moment that you tell me to leave.” Dean declared. “It’s the least that I could do, after you know… after you saved me from Crowley.”

“O-okay.” Sam said with a shuddery breath. “What do I have to do?”

Dean helped Sam sit back up, his fingers brushing over the skin around the bullet wound. “You don’t have to do anything. Just, we have to get outside, okay? It’ll make the transition easier if you’re in the water.”

Sam nodded, climbing to his feet with the help of Dean and Dean lead them outside into the dark of night.

It was hot and while it hadn’t rained yet, the upcoming storm smelled thick in the air. Dean instructed Sam to strip out of his cloths and Sam hesitated for just a second before he started to discard everything he was wearing. Dean at least seemed respectful enough to look above the belt as Sam striped.

When Sam had nothing else on, Dean stepped up to him, brushing the hair out of Sam’s face, such an intimate gesture and Sam practically leaned into the touch. “You know, you don’t have to do this Sam.” Dean said barely above a whisper. “You could probably make it to the hospital. Those doctors, they could probably save you. It would be… it would probably be a lot less painful than this will be.”

“Yeah well that’s a lot of probably’s.” Sam replied. “And this, you’re sure that this will save me?”

Dean pursed his lips together, drawing his hand back, unmasked guilt evident in his eyes. “It’ll save you.”

Sam reached out and grabbed Dean’s hand again, weaving their fingers together. “Then I want to do this.”

Dean looked down at their fingers, the way that they seemed to fit perfectly together (even though Dean was rolling his eyes at himself for how fucking cliche that sounded). “You know, if we do this… if  _ you _ do this, you can’t go back to your old life. You’ll have to stay here… with uh… with me. At least until… until you tell me to leave because I will. I’ll go if you ask me to go but you can’t…”

“Dean, shut up.” Sam said, cutting of Dean’s nervous rambling and Dean snapped his jaw shut. “I don’t want to go back to my old life because I never really had one to begin with. Got student loans from law school that I’ll probably never be able to pay off. Working in a law firm as the paperboy because I don’t have the money to open one myself. In a relationship with a girl that I don’t want to be in a relationship with but I stay in it because I have to. And honestly, spending whatever the rest of my life I have here, with you in this swamp doesn’t sound too bad.”

Still Dean didn’t look completely convinced, that guilt still in his eyes.

“Sam, it’s going to hurt.”

“And I’m not afraid of pain.”

Dean ran a hand down his face, unlacing his fingers from Sam’s and took a step back. “Get in the water.” Dean said and Sam stepped into the bayou without much prompting, walking in until he was about waist deep.

Dean followed in behind him, turning Sam around to where he was facing him and walked him backwards and pushed Sam down until he was laying on his back. Underneath the water, Dean no longer had legs, his tail back.

“I’ll walk you through everything that I’m going to do, what’s going to happen.” Dean said, running his fingers along the outside of the wound, listening to Sam’s heart. “I’m going to bite around the wound, open it up. I’ll cut open a vein and you’ll need to drink my blood.” Sam made a face at that. “I know, it sounds gross but the more of my DNA that I can mix with yours, the better. It won’t take long for the changes to start taking place. Your body will be changing on a biological level. It’ll feel like every cell, every nerve in your body is on fire. The water, it’ll help, a little bit. For the next few hours, it’ll be pure agony.”

Sam nodded, wiggling a little to get comfortable as Dean hovered over him. Sam looked up at him, his heart racing in his chest. It hurt, every beat of his heart sent pain through his ribs.

Then Dean reached out, grabbing Sam by the face and pulled him in for a quick kiss, just a peck really and just like that, he was gone.

Before Sam had the chance to ask what that was all about, Dean moved down his body, mouth closing around the bullet wound and bit down, hard. Sam threw his head back screaming, fingers grabbing at Dean’s shoulders and tried to push him off his body. Except Dean didn’t budge.

He grabbed Sam’s hands from his shoulders and peeled them from him and pinned Sam’s arms to the ground. Sam tried not to move too much. He tried to stay still and not fight against Dean but Dean was tearing into his flesh, his tongue working into wound.

It felt like Dean was never going to stop biting him. There was that seed of doubt in the back of Sam’s mind that maybe Dean wouldn’t actually save him. That he had finally gotten a taste of Sam and his primal urges took over and he was going to eat Sam, take him apart, piece by piece like he did to Crowley.

Finally Dean pulled away, his lips coated in Sam’s blood.

“It’s only going to get worse.” Dean warned before he unpinned Sam and bit into his own wrist, breaking the skin. “It’ll probably taste bad but you have to drink it Sam.”

“How much am I supposed to drink?”

For the first time, Dean didn’t have an exact answer. “Not sure really. The girl that changed me, she uh… she had me drink so much to the point that I almost threw up. So, a lot, I assume.”

Sam took a deep breath before he nodded and grabbed Dean’s arm, sealing his lips around the bite that Dean inflicted and lapped up the blood that had swelled to the surface. It didn’t taste too bad, almost a little bit like metal. Whenever Sam pulled away to breathe, Dean let him. However Sam always pulled Dean’s arm back to his mouth, drank more of the blood that Dean had to offer. Every now and then, Dean would run his fingers through Sam’s hair, untangling the knots while he whispered words of encouragement into Sam’s ear.

Dean pulled his arm away and Sam chased it, for just a moment before he settled back against the bank. Dean settled down next to him, staring up at the stars that broke through the foliage up ahead.

Any moment now he knew that the change would start to take place and that Sam’s screams would break through the night but for now, he took the silence.

“You said…” Dean cleared his throat. “You said earlier that you’re in a relationship that you don’t really want to be in. If you don’t mind me asking, why are you in it?”

Sam chuckled, turning to look at Dean who was purposely not looking at him. “It was because of this image I had to maintain. My dad was a lawyer and I wanted to be one too, ever since I was a child but then I came out and my dad… well he wasn’t too accepting of it. He said it was just a phase, something I would grow past and he said that no self respecting lawyer would be caught with another man. So I… when I went to college, I found this girl. Her name was Jess and she was pretty and it was easy to pretend that I was in love with her. And maybe a part of me was because she was kind and sweet and funny and it made my dad happy but it just didn’t  _ feel _ right. Besides, I get the feeling that if I just disappear, that she’ll move on. So yeah…” Sam shrugged.

Dean turned away from the stars to look at Sam and was met with Sam’s unmoveable gaze. He was about to say something to break the silence that fell over them when Sam reached out and grabbed a hold of Dean’s arm, digging his fingers into the flesh to the point that it hurt Dean.

Sam was gritting his teeth to keep from screaming and Dean moved from beside him to in front of him again.

“Talk to me, Sam.” Dean urged. “Come on, Sammy. Need you to talk to me.”

“It hurts.” Sam grunted. “It feels like… like all my bones are shifting underneath my skin. That…” He screamed. “It hurts.”

Dean nodded, brushing back Sam’s hair. “Yeah, it’s going to hurt. You just gotta push through it. I’m going to be right here, okay. Scream if you have to, stay as far in the water as you can and just fight through it.”

Dean wasn’t sure if Sam was comprehending everything that Dean was saying, his face twisted in pain that Dean felt years before.

Sam remained silent for several long moments, fingers flexing and digging back into Dean’s arm. He closed his eyes, burying his head in his shoulder as he tried to think of anything other than the pain that was racing through his body.

It was about twenty minutes into the change that he started to feel like he was heating up from the inside out. Another minute or so until it felt like he was literally on fire, much like Dean had said. He sank down into the water as much as he could but it did little to sooth the pain. Dean reached out to touch Sam, brush the hair that had fallen back in his face out of the way but the moment that Dean’s hand touched his body, it was a whole new wave of pain that raced through him.

Sam screamed, pushing Dean away.

This was going to be the way that he was going to die. He was sure of it. There was no way that he was going to survive all this pain. Dean had lied. This wasn’t going to save him. For not the first time that night, Sam wished that he heeded Dean’s warnings and just got back in his car and drove to the nearest hospital that he could find. And if he didn’t make it in time, at least it wouldn’t have hurt as much as this was.

It would have been quiet and peaceful and it wouldn’t have felt like both his bones breaking and shifting inside his body while every nerve was burning.

Dean stayed at arms reach from Sam, gritting his jaw as he watched Sam wither in pain, wishing that there was something that he could do. His touch only seemed to amplify every sensation and Sam didn’t seem to hear anything that Dean was saying.

He was deafened by everything that was happening to his body.

For hours Dean sat there and watched as Sam shook and screamed and begged for Dean just to go ahead and kill him, that he should have let him die. Each time Sam begged for Dean to kill him, Dean refused. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch Sam. Instead he told Sam that it was almost over, the pain was almost over and then he would be stronger and healthier than ever.

Dean wasn’t sure how long Sam had been screaming, his throat long had grown hoarse when he finally slumped against the bank and passed out. Even in sleep, his body shook with tremors and he whimpered.

When Sam woke, the sun was just starting to break the horizon and his whole body ached. It felt like every muscle had been pulled and yanked and used to the point of exhaustion but what he didn’t feel was his cells on fire anymore and that was relieving.

Dean was hovering just out of reach from Sam, watching him with his brows pulled together in concern and when Sam tried to open his mouth to say something, Dean shook his head, silencing him.

“You’re throat, it’s going to feel like you swallowed glass. Just keep from talking right now and you’ll be fine.” Dean said as he came up beside Sam.

Other than the fact that Sam ached, he didn’t feel any different and he was scared that he suffered through all that pain for nothing. “So, it didn’t work, huh?” Sam asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Dean’s face broke into a smile. “Look down, Sammy.”

For whatever reason, it didn’t cross Sam’s mind to look down at his legs at first. Maybe because he was still delirious from the night before or maybe his brain had been fried but when he looked down below the surface of the water, a shout erupted from his mouth. He jerked his head back up to look at Dean and then back down to the water.

Just underneath it, where Sam’s legs should have been, there was a tail.

“It matches your eyes, you know.” Dean whispered in Sam’s ear and when Sam looked back up, Dean was right there, mere inches from Sam’s face. “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, Sammy.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, I might write another part to this. Maybe. Thoughts, comments and opinions are always welcomed.


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